Puppy Love
by fyd818
Summary: Summons aren't the easiest creatures to get along with, especially if they have teeth and claws. Then again, neither are impatient, underage chuunin. :Cute Gen fic:


Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_, nor any places, characters, things, or ideas therein. The aforementioned belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Viz Media, TV Tokyo, and Shonen Jump, not me. This fic is for entertainment purposes _only_, not monetary gain.

Summary: Summons aren't the easiest creatures to get along with, especially if they have teeth and claws. Then again, neither are impatient, underage chuunin. :Cute Gen fic:

Rating: K

Warnings: Fluff

Pairings: None

Part: 1/1

**Author's Note:** Just a cute little piece I thought up while watching the episode where Naruto first starts learning to do summons. As far as I know, it never says anywhere how Kakashi and Pakkun met, so I thought I'd write this as a funny little theory to play with the idea. I really hope you enjoy it, and thanks for reading!

* * *

><p><strong>*~Puppy Love~*<strong>

_.:fyd818:._

* * *

><p>"You know, while this <em>does<em> work on the same principle, it's not _quite_ the same..."

"I know, Minato-sensei!" six-year-old Hatake Kakashi said impatiently. "But this is important. I have to learn this." He glared down at the scroll unrolled at his feet, one of the few things of his father's that he wished to keep. He _would_ get this right. He _had_ to get this right!

Namikaze Minato crossed his arms and stepped back. "All right then. Now that you've signed the scroll, all you have to do is make the hand signs, just like I showed you. Then focus your _chakra_ in the palm of your hand, press it to the ground, and summon the animal you made a pact with. It's that simple."

"Right." Kakashi nodded his head of wild silver hair once, closed his eyes, and proceeded to follow the steps in the _exact_ order his sensei had taught him. "Ninja art: summoning jutsu!" he shouted, impacting his right hand against the ground so hard his palm and fingers stung.

With an impressive _poof!_, a big cloud of white smoke billowed around him, just like when his sensei summoned his toad. Kakashi felt his dark eyes widening in uncharacteristic excitement. What would appear out of this smoke? The dog would have to be huge, obviously, and tough. A bulldog, maybe, or a mastiff? He'd gladly settle even for an akita or shepherd.

The smoke slowly cleared. Kakashi blinked at the empty space in front of him, puzzled. Had it not worked? Something sounding an awful lot like a muffled laugh issued from his sensei, still standing behind him.

"Down here - assuming, of course, you're the pipsqueak that summoned me."

"_What?_" Kakashi felt ashamed of the squeaky way his voice came out. He stared down in disbelief at the tiny dog, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, sitting in front of his feet and staring up at him with half-open brown eyes. He stumbled back half a step and shook his head, like that would make it go away. "_You're_ the pipsqueak! What kind of dog are you, anyway?"

"I'm a pug," the summons replied matter-of-factly. "My name is Pakkun. And you are...?" His wrinkled little head tilted to the side inquisitively, black button nose working energetically.

"But you're - you're - a _puppy_!" Kakashi protested.

"And you're a little boy," Pakkun snapped. "What's your point?"

"Hey! I'm a _chuunin_! What do you have to recommend you?" he demanded.

"Um," Minato said nervously, coming into the very edge of Kakashi's vision. "Kakashi-"

Frustrated, Kakashi slapped his hands together. "Release!" he half-snarled. The tiny pup disappeared in a puff of smoke. He turned a fierce look on his teacher. "I just wasn't ready last time," he insisted. "But this time I'll make it work, Minato-sensei!" Repeating his earlier process, only this time injecting more determination into his movements, Kakashi slammed his hand to the ground and loudly proclaimed, "Ninja art: summoning jutsu!" _And _please_ give me something big this time!_

"Oh, not _you_ again." Unbelievably, he heard the same raspy little voice coming from the same puny little body. Somehow, the summoning jutsu _hadn't_ worked. He'd gotten the pug _again!_

Kakashi reined in his instinctive reaction to scream in frustration. "Will you go away?"

Pakkun's shoulders moved awkwardly in what might have been a shrug. Sitting back on his hind legs, he raised his front paws in what looked suspiciously like a gesture of innocence. "Hey, kid, I don't like you any more than you like me. But what you see isn't necessarily what you get, so _try_ not to underestimate me, and I'll try not to underestimate you. Okay?"

Feeling a vein bulging on his temple beneath his forehead protecter, Kakashi curled his hands into fists. "Yeah? Prove it!" he growled.

A strange chuffing laugh shook its way out of the tiny puppy, sounding more than half like a growl. "You asked for it, kid," Pakkun said.

"Oh no," Minato whispered to himself, but made no move to stop his student or the summons. One thing puppies had over tadpoles was the presence of teeth. And claws. At least when _he_ summoned tadpoles at the beginning they couldn't-

-do what Pakkun just did.

Kakashi let out a loud growl and raised his arm, glaring at the puppy now dangling by its teeth from his forearm. "You impertinent little-!"

"I said don't underestimate me!" Pakkun said around his mouthful of Kakashi's arm. "That's what you get!" He vanished in another puff of smoke, dismissing himself.

Feeling his face turn red with frustration and embarrassment, Kakashi geared up to try again. This time, he _knew_ it would work! "Ninja art: _summoning jutsu!_"

Another loud _poof!_, a large puff of smoke, and...

"Not again!" The frustrated duet of wails echoed all the way through the village.

***~Twenty Years Later~***

"Hey, Boss."

Kakashi peered over the top of _Icha Icha Paradise_ at his summons. "What is it, Pakkun?" he asked, slightly irritated at being interrupted.

The little pug lifted his head from where he was resting atop that of the much larger, snoozing Bull. All around Kakashi, the rest of his _ninken_ napped while they waited for their master to finish his book so he could play with them. "Do you remember the first time we met?"

Despite himself, Kakashi felt a little grin tug at the corner of his masked lips. "That I do," he sighed. Tucking his free arm against the trunk of the tree behind him, he stared up through the leaves to the blue sky far above him. "We were both so young then," he mused.

"Are you calling me old?" Pakkun demanded.

The _jounin's_ visible eye narrowed slightly. "If I called you old, I'd be calling myself the same. No, Pakkun, I'm not calling you _old_."

Snickering guffaws from the other dogs proved that they weren't as soundly asleep as they seemed. Pakkun let out a little growl, and they promptly returned to their napping. Despite his diminutive size, he _had_ been the first _ninken_ under Kakashi's command, after all, so his right to lead the rest of them was uncontested. "Good thing, Boss. Otherwise I might have to bite you again."

Reaching out to rub Pakkun's ears, Kakashi smiled at the playfully affectionate nip the pug planted on his wrist. "Despite everything going on back then, those were the days, weren't they?" His eyes drifted across the training ground to the memorial stone just within sight. _Obito and Rin and Minato-sensei were all still alive back then._

"Yeah," Pakkun sighed, leaning his head into Kakashi's hand. "So much has changed since then." He cracked open one eye. "And it seems things are gonna change again tomorrow. I'm glad you finally got yourself a team, Boss."

Withdrawing his hand, Kakashi dropped all pretenses of reading and closed his eye. "I just hope I do as good a job with them as Minato-sensei did with us," he said softly, almost under his breath.

"You will." The confidence in the pug's voice made Kakashi open his eye and turn to face his first summons. Pakkun's dark eyes glowed with the same trust and sureness his voice had portrayed. All around him, the rest of the _ninken_ barked their agreement.

Kakashi's eye curled in a smile. He felt oddly touched by the dogs' complete approval. "Thank you all," he said. Slapping _Icha Icha_ closed, he thrust it into his pocket, then pulled out a handful of balls, chewed up and crusty from dried dog slobber. "Now come on, guys!" he said. "It's playtime!"

And, as it always had been and always would be, the first ball thrown was for Pakkun.

***~The End~***


End file.
